The Wood Folk Diaries: Volume 3, Chapter 18: Commas, Question Mark and Elms

The Wood Folk Diaries: Volume 3, Chapter 18: Commas, Question Marks and Elms

Dear Wood Folk, Around Haliburton, Ontario we have 4 comma butterflies: the green comma (polygonia faunus), eastern comma (polygonia comma), gray comma (polygonia progne), and the question mark (polygonia interrogationis). They are all sorted into the genus polygonia.  They stand out with their angular wing edges from lookalike crescents and fritillaries. But they are very …

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The Wood Folk Diaries: Volume 3, Chapter 17: White /Red-spotted Admiral in the Trees

The Wood Folk Diaries: Volume 3, Chapter 17: White /Red-spotted Admiral in the Trees

Dear Wood Folk, A while back we covered the red admiral, who despite the shared moniker admiral, is quite different from the white AKA red-spotted purple admiral (limenitis arthemis) we’re featuring today. They aren’t even in the same family! Surprisingly, today’s featured “admiral” is more closely related to monarchs. The appearance of limenitis arthemis is …

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The Wood Folk Diaries: Volume 3, Chapter 16: Silvery Checkerspot and Coneflowers

The Wood Folk Diaries: Volume 3, Chapter 16: Silvery Checkerspot and Coneflowers

Dear Wood Folk, The silvery checkerspot (chlosyne nycteis) looks a lot like a northern or pearl crescent, and sometimes it’s called a silvery crescent. These crescents are hard to tell apart, especially the females. You can see pictures of the silvery on iNat. It appears to be dotted with white spots, unlike the northern and pearl. …

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The Wood Folk Diaries: Volume 3, Chapter 15: Dreamy Duskywing in the Willows

The Wood Folk Diaries: Volume 3, Chapter 15: Dreamy Duskywing in the Willows

Dear Wood Folk, The dreamy duskywing (erynnis icelus) is another skipper butterfly. We’ve covered the more orangey skippers in a previous diary, and the endangered mottled duskywing in another. Dreamy has a close lookalike in the more commonly seen Juvenal’s duskywing (erynnis juvenalis) and the rarer columbine duskywing (erynnis lucilius). All three of which are found …

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Ninebark – Physocarpus Opulifolius: Inedible Rose of Not-so Edible & Medicinal Wild Plants

Ninebark – Physocarpus Opulifolius

Ninebark (physocarpus opulifolius) isn’t all that edible or medicinal, but it is a wonderful source of nectar and pollen for pollinators. Ninebark (physocarpus opulifolius) is a rare sight around Haliburton country. When Haliburton Flora was compiled there was only one noted, on an open grassy bank. Yet this is a popular deciduous shrub for native …

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